Colorado is no stranger to wildfires. But the intensity, frequency and destructiveness of fires in the state will continue to grow, according to the Colorado Forest Service.

Fire departments in southern El Paso County have recognized this enhanced threat. Six agencies came together on Thursday to form the Southern Colorado Interagency Wildland Fire Team (SOCO).

Incoming superintendent Shane Coyne, a longtime firefighter and retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, highlighted the intense 2020 fire season as a watershed moment for the six departments. 2020 saw the record-breaking Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires, as well as the Marshall fire.

The six fire departments involved are the Security Fire Protection District, Hanover Fire Protection District, Fountain Fire Department, Stratmoor Hills Fire Protection District, Fort Carson Fire & Emergency Services and the Southwest Highway 115 Fire Protection District.

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The partnership was created to enhance the flexibility of the six partner departments so that response times can be shortened. The SOCO team is made up of a 100% volunteer firefighting force of 18 firefighters, according to Coyne.

“This team’s journey will always be a mountain with no top, but we are driven by the desire to serve others,” Coyne said. “Everybody’s committed down here.”

Coyne said the conversation around the interagency partnership began in January. It was officially adopted in April. However, because of operational and administrative requirements that had to be sorted out, an official announcement was delayed until now.

Leadership also had to be selected, a process that Coyne said didn’t take long.

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“We became operational right at the right time,” Coyne said. “Fire season is all year long. … We just have to be aware that [fires] happen all the time.”

Wildland fires are described by the U.S. Forest Service as being “impossible and as difficult to control as hurricanes, tornadoes and floods.” But they’re a double-edged sword, capable of providing benefits alongside risks.

But “wild” is in the name, and wildland fires are often unpredictable.

David Moravek has worked in wildland firefighting for 25 years. He started at the Falcon Fire Department before joining a wildland firefighting team. When comparing a house or building fire to a wildfire, the biggest foes are all the variables in play. 

“Wildland is more dynamic,” Moravek said.  “Things happen, [they] change. Weather and all sorts of things will happen. And structure is kind of ‘there it is,’ it’s not going to move anywhere.”

Included in the SOCO partnership is the Fort Carson Fire Department, a civilian department that operates on base. According to Chief Robert Fischer, this allows the Army to have permanent firefighting capacity while providing a place where soldiers can keep their firefighting skills honed.

As an Army post, Fort Carson tends to see a higher use of explosives than other areas in El Paso County. Explosives mean fire, and fire is typically a bad thing in Colorado.

Fischer says mechanisms are in place to prevent fires from starting and spreading from the base to surrounding areas, but also highlights the role SOCO will play in further preventing “trespass fires.”

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“With this team, we can actually collaborate and use resources so that we can get ahead and do the mitigations that we need to do,” he said. “This partnership and getting it formalized is going to allow us to make one initial phone call versus five to six different phone calls to different agencies.”

Fischer acknowledged that the county had seen good rainfall in recent days, but also added a wet season can cause headaches in the future.

“The problem we run into is when we have a wet year, and it cures out and dries,” he said. “Probability of a fire increases, because now we have more fuel for it to burn.”

The SOCO fire partnership will provide coordination and collaboration between multiple agencies, but superintendent Shane Coyne said the learning process never really ends.

“Every time you have a fire of any size, there’s always something to learn,” he said.  “You’re either green and growing or ripe and rotting, and we want to be that crew that’s always learning.”